Pink Sunset

Just a couple pics from last couple days. Sunset last night.

 

And some from Friday.

New Locations Now Open

With all the talk of Twitter moving to an algorithmic system that promotes “popular” posts (read: things that make the company more money) I’m preparing to either abandon it, or use it less. In any event, I’ve started a Tumblog which can be found here. Not much there yet since I just started it today. I expect it will evolve as these things do.

I also resuscitated my Ello site, just barely, but it has a pulse now. I’m still not sure what I’ll be doing over there. But if you happen to be on either of those services, let’s connect. If you’re on Facebook I’m there as well (also here) but I don’t log in often.

Don’t be a stranger!

February’s Off to a Pretty Start

Just a few photos from the last two days, driving in to work. Nice to see a bit of blue sky, it’s been so dark and rainy for so long.

 

Early January Photos

Just a few recent pics.

Moon and Venus, 7AM, Jan. 6, 2016

Sunrise over Farksolia, Jan. 6, 2016. The roads were total ice, so traffic was doing about 20mph through this stretch.

And without the wires

Snow earlier in the week (January 3) so I got to work from home that Monday (Jan. 4). It didn’t amount to much, only about an inch and a half, but it stuck around in my area for several days. My backyard was still snowy on Thursday (the 7th) when it was gone from just about everywhere else in the area. The hills of course had it worse.

 

 

Daffodils aren’t afraid of a little snow.

 

 

 

November Collection

I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since I posted anything.

I threw in the towel on NaNoWriMo again. I’ve been sick for a week and it sort of took the wind out of my sails. I’m about 10,000 words into a new thing, my first attempt at a YA novel. But fear not, the vampires are never far from my mind and plan to get back to them ASAP because I miss my fanged friends.

Here are a few shots from this month, and I still have more to process and upload.

The black speck by the tree is an eagle

Geese from below 11-15-15

11-15-15

Leaves of gold 11-15-15

Lots of geese 11-15-15

Sunrise 11-16-15

Puffy cloud 11-9-15

Japanese maple 11-6-15

11-06-15 Fog Sun Trees

11-6-15 backlit leaves

11-05-15 oak tree

11-04-15 maples and oak

11-04-15 foggy sunrise

11-04-15 foggy pond at sunrise

11-04-15 fog in the preserve

11-03-15 walnut tree at sunrise

11-03-15 gold in the fog

11-02-15 morning moon

Sunrise Colors

Breaktaking colors this morning, and a shot of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the eastern sky just before daybreak. Venus is the top, brightest one, then little Mars, and Jupiter.

Hood, geese, river of gold

sunrise colors

sunrise

Sunrise colors with shadow from Mt Hood

Venus, Mars, & Jupiter

 

 

Rain + Sun = Rainbow

Left side

Right side

Just a few shots from my morning commute. There was a double but I just couldn’t fit it all in the image. I kept wanting to stop and take pictures on the way in but didn’t have time! Grrrr. Hence some lousy framing and road signs.

I love the sun on the green trees with the dark clouds behind. It’s so dramatic. These are completely unretouched except for a little cropping and compression.

Sunrise

Oregon Spring

I’ve been taking loads of pictures lately, just no time to post. Here’s a selection the last week or so. Some of the dates are wrong, typos, ya know. But just in case spring is late in your part of the world, enjoy these pictures.

Not much else going on. Still working with CreateSpace to try to get the cover image for Revenants Abroad printed right. They’ve sent me two proof copies and both were so dark you could hardly see the details and colors in the background. I’m very frustrated. It’s not brain surgery, it shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s hope third time’s the charm.

Imaginary Worlds

These pictures feel like a fairytale world. I need to write a fantasy set in this place. Gotta come up with a name for it. Amazing how it’s never the same two days in a row.

When I look at these pictures I keep wanting to label them “Farksolia.” But I need to think up my own name if I want to create an imaginary world. For those not familiar with Farksolia, it was an imaginary planet invented by Barbara Follett, a ‘child prodigy’ who wrote an acclaimed novel at the age of 12, in 1925. She even created a language for the inhabitants, Farksoo. She disappeared mysteriously in 1939, and I like to think she created a new life for herself somewhere, changed her name, and kept writing. She would have been 101 on March 4. I somehow stumbled across Farksolia years ago, no doubt following one link, then another, and have never forgotten about Barbara.

Anyway the whole thing is giving me ideas for different blog formats, and creating a little world of my own. I owe you for that, Barbara.

Reflecting magic

Morning mists

Dreamy morning clouds

A little lens flare

Pink sunrise

 

 

Revenants Abroad–Chapter 21

In which our hero takes matters into his own hands… Neko and Anne-Marie are off to Greece, leaving Andrej and a couple of hired thugs free to do what needs to be done.

Chapter 21 can be read free on Wattpad (and yanno, chapters 1-20 as well…)

So here’s a thing. I’ve been contacted twice by people on Wattpad looking to swap ‘votes for votes.’ Maybe this is how some of them reach the rankings they get, by ‘buying’ or swapping votes. My sense of fair play was offended. I won’t do it. I’ve heard of this being done on other sites, a “you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours” set up. The corollary I fear is that if I don’t, will these people feel snubbed and try to keep people away from my story(ies)? I don’t know. I’m still learning my way around Wattpad and discovering the “clubs” (discussion boards). It seems there’s still a great deal I don’t know about the site. I’ve been disappointed not to even receive any comments on the book, although people have contacted me outside that venue to talk to me about it.

I’m nearing the end of it on Wattpad. There are 7 chapters to go and then I’ll give it a week or so and pull it so I can upload it to CreateSpace and make paper copies available. Amazon’s terms do not allow the book to be available for free elsewhere, or they’ll make it free, too. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it on Smashwords or move it to the Kindle platform and other resellers directly (Barnes and Noble, and Kobo, most notably). I’ll have to see what’s involved.

So anyhoo, here are a few shots from this morning’s commute. Lovely to have a break in the rain. Happy Wednesday!